COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.–(UND Athletics) Finally bedecked with a full roster with players returning from injury and the IIHF World Junior Tournament, the third-ranked North Dakota Fighting Hawks efficiently dispatched of host Colorado College, 3-0, Sunday evening at Broadmoor World Arena to begin the second half of their season. Junior goaltender Adam Scheel made 27 saves to notch his second shutout of the season, fifth of his career.
North Dakota (8-2-1) got freshmen Tyler Kleven and Jake Sanderson back from their gold-medal-winning effort at the World Juniors with Team USA and returned Harrison Blaisdell to the lineup as well as tacking on new addition freshman Louis Jamernik to give the Hawks a full gluttony of players, a rare occurrence so far this season. Kleven immediately paid dividends by scoring the first goal, a birthday tally that wound up being the game-winner after Scheel slammed the door shut.
Kleven’s goal came after Judd Caulfield raced the puck end-to-end and hit the post on his wrap around attempt. The puck came to Kleven at the point and the freshman banged it home for his second collegiate goal in just his fourth game.
Scheel was outstanding between the pipes, turning every Tiger chance aside in improving to 3-0-0 all-time against CC. He helped his own cause in the second period in gaining some insurance when he played a perfect breakout pass to Jordan Kawaguchi along the far boards. The senior then fed it to Collin Adams and then Grant Mismash was there on the back door to tap it home for a 2-0 lead.
Adams would benefit from a wacky play later in the frame as Matt Kiersted’s shot appeared to hit traffic in front then Adams tapped it past Matt Vernon for a 3-0 advantage. That was more than enough for Scheel, who lowered his season goals against average to 1.90, improving to 7-1-1 on the year.
The teams will conclude the series Monday with an 8:07 p.m. CT puck drop.
NOTES
*This Sunday-Monday series came to be earlier in the week after each team’s scheduled opponent had COVID-19 issues to force the postponement of those regularly-scheduled contests.
*This series will replace the original Feb. 12-13 series that was slated to be played in Colorado Springs.
*Sunday’s game was the NCAA debut for freshman Louis Jamernik, who joined the team at the semester break from the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers.
*With his second-period assist, Jordan Kawaguchi extended his NCAA-leading point streak to 11.
*UND killed off all four CC power-play chances and has now been successful on each of its last 20 penalty kills.
*Mismash’s power-play goal gave the Fighting Hawks their fifth straight game with a PPG and in 10 of 11 games this season.
*It was the second shutout of the season for Adam Scheel and the fifth of his career.
*Scheel improved to 3-0-0 all-time against CC with a 1.62 GAA and .932 save percentage.
*Blaisdell, Kleven and Sanderson all played in their first UND games since Dec. 6
*Collin Adams has scored a goal in four straight games
*UND scored its three goals on just 18 shots and had at least two hit the pipes
*North Dakota is 4-0-0 on Sundays this season
